Shooter’s weapon described as AR-15 variant

The Texas Department of Public Safety told reporters that the man who shot and killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs used a Ruger "AR style" rifle in the attack.

The Texas Department of Public Safety told reporters that the man who shot and killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs used a Ruger "AR style" rifle in the attack.

Photo: Ruger

Photo: Ruger

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The Texas Department of Public Safety told reporters that the man who shot and killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs used a Ruger "AR style" rifle in the attack.

The Texas Department of Public Safety told reporters that the man who shot and killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs used a Ruger "AR style" rifle in the attack.

Photo: Ruger

Shooter’s weapon described as AR-15 variant

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The 26-year-old man who walked into a Sutherland Springs church and opened fire did so with a variant of the AR-15, a popular rifle that is based on the military’s M-16, police said Sunday.

The rifle used by Devin Kelley was the Ruger AR-556, Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Freeman Martin said in a news conference.

The AR-15 is more of a category than a specific weapon. It is known for being customizable, with hundreds of variants, each with its own characteristics. Ruger’s AR-15 variant, the AR-556, comes with a suggested retail price of $849 and weighs 6.5 pounds.

Colt owns the trademark for the AR-15, but hundreds of companies have produced their own versions of the weapon. Gun owners are able to mix and match elements such as barrels, grips and stocks. Some variants are able to fire pistol rounds and even can be modified to fire shotgun rounds.

The AR-15, like its military cousin the M-16, is a magazine-fed, gas-operated, air-cooled weapon. While the maximum range of an AR-15 variant depends on its setup, the M-16 has a maximum effective range of 600 to 800 yards.

Unlike the M-16, the stock AR-15 does not have burst or automatic fire modes. One trigger pull in an unmodified rifle fires off one round. Some modifications or firing techniques can allow the weapon to mimic an automatic rifle.

Mass murderers have used AR-15 variants in the past. Rifles based on the AR-15 were used in mass shootings in Newtown, Connecticut; Aurora, Colorado; and San Bernardino, California. The Orlando shooter used a Sig Sauer MCX, which is a weapon with different characteristics but based on similar concepts to the AR-15.

The rifle’s appeal is boosted by its customization, according to the National Rifle association website. “The AR-15’s ability to be modified to your own personal taste is one of the things that makes it so unique,” a post on the site reads.

Sales of the gun traditionally have spiked after each mass shooting.

It is unknown how many AR-15 variants are owned in the United States, but estimates range from 5 million to 8 million. The weapon did not reach its current levels of popularity until the expiration of the nation’s federal assault weapons ban in 2004.

Groups such as the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation have attacked critics of AR-15 variants in the past. “While these rifles may cosmetically look like military rifles, they do not function the same way,” a post on the National Shooting Sports Foundation site reads.

A database of 143 mass shootings compiled by Mother Jones, going back to 1984, found 20 attacks that used guns that would have been illegal under the assault weapons ban that was in place from its passage in 1994 to its expiration. The AR-15 was specifically named in that ban.

A history of the AR-15 by the Washington Post noted the weapon is typically loaded with a 30-round magazine. However, larger magazines carrying 75 to 100 rounds are commercially available, but unwieldy and sometimes prone to jamming.

The AR in the name does not stand for assault rifle or automatic rifle. Instead it, stands for “ArmaLite rifle,” named for the company that developed the weapon.